Highlights from the Venice Biennale

Highlights from the Venice Biennale - 2019

Below are some of my artist highlights from the Venice Biennale this year. Each artist represented here profiles the experience of people of colour, simultaneously 'decentering' the Western canon so prevalent within the arts. The images selected make visible the 'Black body' in various environments and guises, and can be seen as drawing attention to the 'hyper-visibility' of the 'Black body' in society on the one hand, whilst on the other hand Black people have historically been rendered 'invisible' in art history.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Kudzanai Violet-Hwami

Henry Taylor

Khalil Joseph

Tavares Strachan

Henry Taylor

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Lessons learned from Africa Utopia (September 14th 2014); Africa Re-Imagined

As I sat with my friend at the final talk that we were attending for the day, looking ahead at the panel of 4 women discussing their creative practices, it suddenly dawned on me that all of the talks that we had attended today had been facilitated by African women . As a take home message for me, that was exciting and significant; hearing about art and ideas coming from the continent and its diaspora through the voices of African women so often left out of the dialogues that take place. I listened, I took notes, I soaked up the atmosphere, and I fed on the information presented to me. I was eager to hear, and eager to learn. The first talk I attended drew me in and captivated me, I think it was the youthful energy of the two speakers (Kiran Yoliswa and Alae Ismail who collectively are known as Styled By Africa ). They carried the audience into their world of African design, cuisine, music and media. I learnt many a new thing, and my friend and I nodded and ‘ mmmhmmd’ as we l...

Remembering to write...

Before I had a love of art, I had a love of literature. I loved to read, it was my escape from life, my place of comfort, I could think of nothing better than disappearing into a world of love and adventure, of long lost worlds and heroic characters, only resurfacing hours later when brought back to reality by my mother's voice; "can you set the table?!" As my love of literature grew, I began to write my own stories and by the time I was 9 years old I loved to write as much as I loved to read, with 3 full length stories under my belt. Problems arose when I wanted to illustrate my stories (I didn't think I could draw), I wasted no time in enlisting the help of my older brother (I knew he could draw), who to my utter surprise and dismay (at the time and now a little bit, if I'm honest) ''had better things to do with his time!" . What was a girl to do? Well, I taught myself how to draw and their began my love of art, but sadly in the process of learn...

Bodies Out of Place - INGRID POLLARD ‘Pastoral Interlude’ 1988

Visual arts and literature can both be said to be modes by which we can explore the human condition. Through them we can encounter new perspectives, new realities and discover new possibilities. We can also question who is allowed to speak, and who is spoken for. These possibilities show only some of the many connections between the two art forms, and thus creates a basis within which interdisciplinary bridges can be created. Ingrid Pollard is a photographer, media artist and researcher based in the UK. Her art practice is concerned with representation, history and landscape with reference to race, difference and the materiality of lens-based media. The work of Pollard which I am looking at here focuses on the idyllic, romanticised representation of British countryside that Pollard disrupts and challenges through the juxtaposition of issues of around identity and belonging. Photography and text are placed together each a necessary part of the issues that Pollard wants to ...

Kuandika

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